The history of the Australian gallows is littered with examples of condemned criminals who gave unhelpful dying speeches, committed acts of violence on the scaffold, or were perceived to behave inappropriÂately given the gravity of the event.
In Adelaide, Hugh Fagan appeared to one local newspaper as a �mere animal' because he �smoked his pipe with the coolest indifference', approached the gallows with disturbing haste and swore at the executioner for appearing nervous with the rope.[284] In Hobart, Samuel Williams struggled with the hangman and repeatedly got his pinioned hands free to remove the hood placed over his face.[285] In Victoria there were many unhelpful protestations of innocence at the last moment; in fact about one-fifth of those hanged denied that they were actually guilty of the crime.[286] In Sydney one �young desperado' in 1830 reportedly tackled the executioner off the scaffold platform to the
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ground below in a fit of rage.[287] Speaking generally, the Brisbane Courier did well to capture the variety of criminal behaviour displayed at the colonial gallows:
Some [are] penitent, praying and peacefully receiving those priestly consolations which smooth down the pain of death, or its dreadful anticiÂpations; some, alas! Hardened, full of bravado, refusing all the offerings of spiritual advisers, and desirous of going to their last account with ostenÂtatious indifference; others, full of strange fears, deeply wrought in spirit, suffering mental agonies worse than a thousand deaths.[288]
This chapter concerns the behaviour of colonial criminals in their dying moments. It starts with the premise that the criminal’s behaviour, words and demeanour went some way in shaping how their punishment was �read’ by the onlooker.
Those running the execution desired a peniÂtent criminal above all else, one who gave the outward appearance of agreement with the justice of their sentence. Yet, many factors worked against this outcome on the day of execution. Crucially, there was the widespread cultural expectation in the Australian colonies that the crimÂinal â€?die game’—that is, with a degree of premeditated pluckiness and bravado. This cultural belief, appropriated from England, encouraged many criminals to misbehave in their final moments and show little remorse for their crimes. Fully aware of the criminal’s propensity to misbehave, those charged with running the execution employed various mechanisms to guide the criminal away from â€?gameness’ and towards penitence. By limiting forms of resistance it was hoped that the lesson of the Australian gallows would remain shaped by the hands of the state, rather than that of the criminal.